Just a girl
by MadGirl-SpaceGirl-StarGirl
Summary: Laney thinks she knows 3 things. She is better off in the Kingdom than out there. She gets along with a tiger better than most people. And after a horrific loss, things around her are changing too much and too quickly. With new enemies and new allies her little world is turned on it's head. But if there's something she knows for sure, it's how to fight. And there's a war coming.
1. Stay

It was no surprise that the room in the Kingdom where Shiva's cage was, was almost always deserted.

And that was just the way Laney liked it.

At somewhere around 17 or 18 (she had lost track of days and dates somewhere around the 9 month mark of the current hell-on-earth scenario) she was old enough to understand the King's rules.

"Drink from the well, replenish the well."

So she did her part, did all her chores and jobs without complaint and to the best of her ability. But as soon as that was done Laney would disappear to one of three places.

The library roof.

The bedroom seven doors around the corner from her own.

And Shiva's cage room.

Funnily enough, although they found her impressive and awe inspiring, most residents of the Kingdom were very much terrified of Ezekiel's tiger.

This meant that no one but the King himself spent much time in the room with Shiva's cage.

 _This_ meant that she would usually be left, undisturbed, which suited her just fine.

She had always been better with animals than people anyway.

And Shiva seemed to have a soft spot for Laney, well, as soft a spot as a tiger could have for a human. At that moment in time Shiva could be found stretched out along the front side of her cage, a huge bulk rising and falling slowly as the animal breathed and Laney could be found sat with her back resting against the bars right beside the tiger, a book in one hand and an apple in the other.

"Hey stranger"

Laney looked up, pushing her shoulder-brushing raven curls out of her face and shot a small smile up at the young man who had spoken the words.

Benjamin was leaning in the door way, still wearing his body armour and carrying the staff that the stranger, Morgan, had fashioned for him. He was smiling down at her, though his eyes would warily dart ever so often to the tiger behind her.

"You know, I'm never gonna understand why you like it in here so damn much" Benjamin said with a small chuckle as Laney closed her book and stood up, stroking Shiva's fur once before walking over to her boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

It still felt odd to call him that. Like the world had changed to much to have something as normal as a boyfriend.

But that was what he was to her.

Benjamin the boyfriend.

"You're a weird chick Lay." Benjamin said simply watching her interaction with the tiger and then falling into step beside her as the two walked from the animal's room.

"Don't act like you didn't know what you were signing up for." she quipped back, looking down at her battered boots and fiddling with the fraying sleeve of her dark green sweater. Benjamin laughed at her retort and slung an arm casually over her shoulders.

It was a moment before she relaxed under the weight of it.

"You know, sometimes I think you like that tiger more than me." he teased as they walked across the courtyard beside Ezekiel's royal garden. Laney just laughed lightly and ducked her head, letting her hair fall in front of her face slightly as she shook her head fondly at Benjamin's antics.

As they were crossing the main courtyard, the gates suddenly began to open. As they did so, Richard and Alvaro entered the Kingdom, with a group of strangers following behind.

She recognised the man with the long hair.

"The hell is Jesus doing here?" Benjamin voiced her thoughts before she could and before she could speak Jerry's voice called out from behind them.

"Benjamin! Dude let's go, the King wants you!"

"Shit, gotta go!" Turning to face her, Benjamin leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Laney's lips before saying with a small, slightly insecure smile "See you later?" It was posed as a question, like he wasn't sure if she would want to.

"Yeah. Now go. Don't keep the king waiting." Laney said with a light laugh and a small push to his stomach to get him to move.

As Benjamin jogged towards Jerry, Laney moved to stand slightly obscured from view, round the corner of one of the buildings and surveyed the group that Richard had brought in.

Jesus.

Grey beard man.

Sword lady.

Black lady.

Pigtail, scar girl.

Short haired girl.

Eye patch boy.

Dark haired man.

Seven strangers.

She wondered what was happening.

* * *

"Thought I'd find you up here."

Jesus climbed the last few rungs of the black ladder with paint flecks falling from it and swung himself up onto the roof. He sat down beside Laney, and let his legs hang down off the roof just like hers, his trench coat fluttering in the breeze slightly.

Laney gave a small smile and said quietly

"Hey Jesus."

"Hey Laney. How're you doin' kid?"

Laney shrugged and stretched slightly

"Hangin' in there."

"And Benjamin...?" Jesus let the name peter out into a question. Laney glanced up at him and although he was staring straight out over the Kingdom, she could see the hint of a teasing smirk dancing round the corner of his lips and behind his bright eyes.

"We're fine." she said with a slightly raised eyebrow, bumping his should with hers in a friendly nudge which he happily returned.

"Good. He makes you smile, which is something I don't get to see a lot. You're too young to be so serious." Jesus said earnestly and Laney scoffed slightly

"Kinda hard not to be serious in the middle of this shit storm Jesus."

"Fair point." chuckled the long haired man.

Laney looked down into the courtyard and pointed one skinny finger down at the group huddled by the gate, apparently deep in discussion.

"Who are they Jesus?" her voice was curious and quiet and her brow was furrowed as she observed the strangers.

"They're friends. Rick's the guy in charge, th-they're good people, they have a community. They came to see the King."

"Why?" she wasn't normally inquisitive but for once her curiosity was peaked.

"Theeyyyy" Jesus paused like he was choosing his words carefully "They need allies. Dangerous world ya know?"

Not satisfied with the answer but not wanting to push the issue, Laney nodded.

"Are you staying?" this question was tentative and she didn't look at him as she spoke. Jesus sighed and gently gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"I can't. I have to get back to the Hilltop. I'm sorry, you know I would if I could." he said earnestly and she gave a quick nod in response, not wanting him to see that it upset her he was leaving.

Laney liked it when Jesus stayed.

It made her feel safer.

After all he did save her life.

As this thought flit through her head Jesus stood up on the roof and stretched, before heading back to the metal ladder.

"Are you coming down?"

* * *

Laney looked out of her window. Her room had a view of the gates and front courtyard and through the streaky, dirty glass she could see the group that had arrived with Jesus hovering by the gate. They all seemed to be involved in a discussion when over the sword lady's shoulder she saw Diane approach. The Kingdom's archer spoke, Laney saw her mouth move though the words were inaudible. The group then moved towards the slowly opening gates, all except the dark haired man who stood watching them go until the gates swung shut again.

"Hey"

 _"It's just Benjamin"_ she thought to herself, closing her eyes for a moment as the young man in question slid an arm around her waist from behind her and leaned his head against hers. He had learnt throughout the course of their relationship to give her fair warning if she couldn't see him approach and not to sneak up on her (There had been one unfortunate incident at the beginning of their relationship about a month and a half or so back, which had ended with Benjamin with a bloody nose and Laney not being able to look at him out of shame for three days).

"Hey back" she murmured, still watching the courtyard where Jesus had just left with the strangers.

"You wanna go get something to eat?" he asked as she turned in his arms to face him. "Henry says if I don't feed him soon he's going to kill and eat Shiva." Benjamin chuckled as he repeated his brothers words.

"Sure." was her only response and Benjamin looked at her with a slight frown.

"You ok?"

A half shrug, half nod.

"You missin' Jesus?" he guessed and she nodded.

"It's just" Laney sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she tried to find the words "It feels like something's changing. I don't know." she sighed again "forget it. Let's go feed that feral brother of yours."

* * *

"You could stay" Benjamin murmured, brushing his lips over hers as they leaned against the door of his bedroom.

He said it every night.

He made the offer every night that she could stay.

And every night she said the same thing.

"Not now." she murmured back gently extracting herself from Benjamin's arms.

"Henry's got his own room now." Benjamin tried and Laney felt her heart tug guiltily as he continued "You could save yourself a trip and just crash here..."

"I do that and you won't get any sleep at all. And you have training with Morgan in the morning. At least if I try and sleep in my own room you can get some sleep and I can always sneak in without waking you up." Laney said gently and Benjamin rubbed the back of his neck with a begrudging nod of agreement.

"I guess you're right."

He still looked a little disappointed so Laney leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek saying with a small smile

"Hey, I'll see you in the morning." then as an afterthought "Hey, I finished that thing you asked about."

This made Benjamin perk up a little.

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Awesome. Thank you so much Lay."

Laney ducked her head with a slight blush and shrugged saying

"Don't worry about it. Look it's late. I should go." she moved away from the door "Goodnight."

And with one last kiss she exited the room as Benjamin ran a hand through his hair and let out a groan behind her.

* * *

Awake.

Eyes snap open.

Breathing, harsh, hard and heavy.

1.

2.

3.

A deep breath.

A gulp.

Swallow the sense of bile rising in her throat.

Breathing again, slower now.

Letting the remnants of the dream wash away.

It's not real.

It's not real.

It's not real.

* * *

Benjamin didn't stir as the door to his room carefully creaked open.

Padding in on bare feet, Laney, dressed in an oversized sweatshirt and shorts, tip toed over to the bed and carefully lay down beside him.

Benjamin didn't open his eyes.

Just wrapped an arm around her waist and went back to sleep.

Yeah.

Maybe she should just stay from now on.

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **I love Benjamin he's such a sweet character.**

 **I hope you guys like it, I tried really hard.**

 **Sorry there wasn't much action, but there will be soon I promise!**

 **I am rubbish at title's so if anyone can suggest a better one for this story I might use it if that's cool.**

 **Let me know what you think, I love reading reviews and pm's.**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	2. Who's the girl?

"Hey"

She blinked her eyes open and made a mental note of the first three things she registered.

1\. She was not in her room - ah that was right she remembered coming to Benjamin's room last night now.

2\. A warmth at her back - that must be Benjamin

3\. Lips brushing gently against her cheek bone - yep, definitely Benjamin

"Hey back" she murmured with a slight groan as she stretched out her back, cat like, before turning round to face Benjamin who was propped up on one elbow, smiling at her.

"Nightmares again?" he asked with a small, understanding smile and she nodded curtly, hoping that that would make it clear she didn't want to talk about it.

"Sorry" he murmured, before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Benjamin sat up, stretched, and then climbed out of bed and reached for a shirt that was hanging over the back of the chair in the corner, slipping it on over his bare torso and yawning.

"Gotta make a run today. Shouldn't be gone too long." Benjamin said casually as he finished getting dressed, whilst Laney sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes and stretching.

"Ok."

"Hey so ummm, Henry wants to go to movie night later, means he's someone else's nightmare for a few hours" Ben rubbed the back of his neck slightly awkwardly "You want to um, I dunno, have like a-a, have like, I don't know a-a d-date night, date night or something?"

Laney ducked her head letting her hair fall in front of her face to hide the slight blush that had crept into her cheeks.

"Yeah" she said shyly "Yeah I-I'd like that."

They both smiled a little awkwardly and continued getting dressed. As Benjamin sat on his bed lacing up his boots Laney disappeared saying quietly

"I'll be back in a minute."

She reappeared a few moments later with a large wrapped canvas in her hands.

"Told you I finished it"

"Awww Lay, you're the best! I ever tell you that? The best."

"And don't you forget it." She smiled with just the hint of cheekiness to her tone.

Benjamin got to his feet and leant down pulling her in for a gentle kiss, and Laney sighed against his lips.

"Don't go. Stay." she murmured and Benjamin gave a sigh of his own.

"I cant. King wants me with him."

"Where? What are you doing?"

"Just goin' on rounds." Benjamin said evasively and Laney knew not to ask anymore. It had not taken her long to realise when she arrived there that the Kingdom, it's King and his most trusted soldiers had secrets.

It was one of the pros (or cons depending on how you saw it) of being small and quiet.

Nobody notices you but you notice a lot.

"Hey" Benjamin tilted her face up to him "Think of it as a chance to hang out with that damn tiger without me complaining about it the whole time" Laney couldn't help but laugh lightly at that and Benjamin tucked a few loose strands of hair behind his girlfriends left ear. "I'll see you later ok?"

"Ok"

"My crazy tiger girl" Benjamin smiled down at her "I love you Lay."

"Love you Ben."

* * *

"I got something for you, for the new place"

Benjamin watched on as Morgan got to his feet and took the wrapped up parcel from him.

"Thanks" the older man said and as he began to unwrap it Benjamin explained

"I found it at a restaurant I was scavenging. I uh, there's this girl and she uh, she fixed it up for me."

"There" Morgan hung it on the bare wall "I was getting tired of looking at that nail."

They both chuckled slightly before Morgan said nonchalantly

"So, who's the girl?"

Benjamin felt heat climbing his neck as his mind flickered back to Laney and he smiled awkwardly

"Uh" he said rubbing the back of his neck before changing the subject. For some reason he wasn't ready to talk to Morgan about girls, or his girl just yet "We're at like 'three minutes go' right now so..."

"Who's the girl?" Morgan said again with a knowing look.

"Just...just a girl" Benjamin said evasively but a small smile crept onto his face at the thought of her.

And then he left the room with Morgan's eyes watching him as he went.

* * *

"Kid's too young to be a father"

Morgan didn't bother to turn his head as he heard Richard speak, watching instead as Benjamin said goodbye to Henry.

"Were you one?"

"I was thank God" Richard said "But I wasn't too young-perfect age, perfect time. I had myself the perfect family and the perfect life." He sighed "I didn't ask for much and I got more than I deserved. And you?"

Morgan nodded slowly, still watching the two brothers.

"I'm sorry for how things have been between you and me" Richard continued "I think you're wrong about killing...about how you think things can last like this with the Saviours. But, I'm sorry. I know you're a good man." Richard's expression darkened slightly "The day's coming where you cant be that good. When that happens, don't beat yourself up about it."

Before Morgan could even consider answering this strange statement, Richard had walked away.

"Benjamin!" Ezekiel called "It's time for us to take our leave!"

As everyone else headed for the truck, Morgan watched as Benjamin turned to come over but paused and quickly jogged over to where a girl was stood leaning against the wall at the corner of the storerooms. As Benjamin reached her, Morgan appraised the unknown girl. She was pale, small, skinny, her dark green sweater dwarfing her small frame, the sleeves hanging down over her hands. She had black hair that just reached her shoulders and even from this distance he could see her piercing ice blue eyes.

Benjamin reached her and she gave a small shy smile. They exchanged a few words before the girl leaned upwards on her toes and gave Benjamin a quick kiss.

Morgan smiled slightly to himself at the awkward yet slightly goofy grin on Benjamin's faced as he approached the truck and they both climbed inside. As Richard locked the doors and Benjamin and Morgan sat side by side, the latter turned to his young apprentice and said once again

"Who's the girl?"

* * *

Laney had just finished work, helping clear out and burn the plants from the King's royal garden and was headed back to her room to get a book. Seeing Benjamin off that morning had left her wanting to be alone for some reason. She had hung back while Benjamin said goodbye to Henry.

That was the only point of tension that existed in their relationship.

Henry, for some reason only he knew, did not like Laney.

Neither Benjamin or Laney knew why, but they hadn't let it affect their relationship. Laney just stayed out of Henry's way when he was with his brother and did her best to be nice to him.

So yes, she had hung back while Benjamin bid his little brother goodbye and then said goodbye herself.

Now, book in hand, she was heading to Shiva's cage room.

As she walked towards the door to enter, she thought back to the goofy smile on Benjamin's face after she had initiated the kiss that morning and allowed herself a small smile.

The smile disappeared into a look of confusion and caution however when she opened the door to Shiva's room to find a stranger sat in her usual spot facing Shiva and watching the tiger eat.

The man turned at the sound of the door opening and looked at her, and Laney looked back her hand frozen on the doorknob not sure what to do.

It took her a moment to think of where she vaguely recognised the stranger.

He was the dark haired man that had come in with the man Jesus called Rick.

"Oh" the small exclamation escaped her mouth before she could stop it.

The man got to his feet but didn't move from the spot he was in.

Neither of them spoke.

For a very long time.

The man suddenly moved towards the door like he was going to leave. Laney jumped at the sudden movement and shuffled round him so that she was in the room while he headed towards the doorway.

"Oh" she said again "You- erm, you don't have to leav- I'm I'm sorry, you don't - don't have to go."

The man paused but didn't say anything.

Finding her voice again Laney said

"Stay. It'll be nice to have some company for a change."

She wasn't sure why she was lying but the words were just tumbling out of her face before she could stop them.

After anther short pause the dark haired man sat down, close to the bars of the cage with his back against the wall. Laney sat across the room from him and nervously opened her book.

It took her less than two minutes to realise that she couldn't concentrate on her book while the stranger was there. Closing the novel she pulled her knees up to her chest and began fiddling with the laces of her boots.

"I uh, I'm Laney" she mumbled, uncomfortable with the silence in the room.

"Daryl" the stranger answered back in a gravelly voice.

"You came with Jesus right?"

 _"STOP TALKING"_ she thought-shouted at herself as Daryl gave her a curious look before saying

"Yeah"

"How'd you meet him?"

 _"WHY ARE YOU STILL TALKING?"_

"Tried to rob us"

"Oh"

They lapsed back into silence.

Neither of them knew that each was just as curious about the other though both were extremely uncomfortable and nervy in their current situation.

"How d'you know 'im?"

She was surprised by the question and immediately started stumbling over her words

"Jesus? Oh I uh-I mean he-"

She was reaching for a vague reason she could give when she heard herself say the truth

"He saved me. Brought me here."

The silence that descended after that revelation was lasting, and they didn't speak again for what must have been hours until Laney heard the rumble of a vehicle coming from outside.

They were back.

"I um, I gotta go. It was nice meeting you I uh I guess..." she tailed off as she got to her feet before ducking her head and hurrying from the room, Daryl's dark eyes watching her as she went.

* * *

Something was wrong.

She could feel it the minute she set foot outside.

The Kingdom soldiers who were getting out of the truck looked defeated. She started counting as she approached

There was the King

Jerry

Diane.

Carlos.

Daniel.

Richard.

7, 8-

No.

No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

"Laney!"

Jerry had seen her approaching and had headed over interrupting her path.

"Laney don't-"

"Where is he? Jerry where is he?"

Jerry didn't need to ask who "he" was, he was one of the few who knew about her relationship with...

"Ben, where'sBen, where-"

"Laney don't. Come inside, just come away don't look."

Jerry had put his arms out towards her gently but she shook her head and pushed around him stumbling over to the truck. She staggered round to the back and felt her breath stop.

Saw the white sheet covering the body.

Saw the blood.

Saw the man, Morgan holding a set of armour too small to be his.

She knew who was under the sheet, she knew.

But she looked anyway, lifting the corner of the white sheet.

Seeing his face.

Benjamin's cold dead face.

She dropped to her knees.

Saw Jerry crouch down in front of her.

Felt him put a hand on her shoulder, heard him try and comfort her.

It didn't work.

So all the Kingdom soldiers, Morgan and the King all stood rooted in place looking anywhere but the truck while Jerry looked at her.

And they let her cry.

* * *

 **Ouch that was painful to write.**

 **I loved Benjamin but he had to go guys I'm sorry, dw I hate me too.**

 **Poor Laney.**

 **Poor Benjamin.**

 **Let me know what you think and it would be cool if you told me what you want to see next just to give me an idea because I have an idea about something that happens once season 8 starts but i' not 100% sure of where im going for the rest of season 7 at the moment so let me know what you want to see ok?!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	3. Pretty sure she loved him

"You need to eat"

Silence was the only response Jerry got from where he stood in the doorway, holding a plate of stew.

Laney was sat on her bed, legs crossed, head leaning back against the wall, eyes staring listlessly out of her window.

Beside her lay a set of armour.

His armour.

And in her hands was a shirt.

His shirt-his favourite shirt.

"Laney. Dude you gotta eat somethin'. The King's worried 'bout you, Diane's worried 'bout you, _I'm_ worried 'bout you."

Still nothing.

Jerry sighed, walked into the room and set the stew down on the small cabinet. Laney didn't even blink. With one last sad look at his young friend, Jerry exited the room.

"She just wants attention" came a small voice from behind him and he turned to find Henry stood there, his staff in his hands.

"I don't think that's it little dude." Jerry said sadly and Henry just scowled.

"He was _my_ brother and _I'm_ not doing that. _She_ always does stuff for attention." he grumbled hitting the bottom of the wall with the end of his staff.

"Pretty sure she loved him Henry. She's allowed to be upset about it."

"Whatever. I'm upset but I'm still eating." Henry said before turning and walking away.

* * *

"You need to eat child."

She must really be worrying people if the King himself had come to her room.

"I know that you are grieving my child but the Kingdom still needs _all_ of it's subjects. That means you too."

Finally Laney moved.

She unfurled her legs and stood up from the bed, facing the King. Ezekiel noticed that she swayed slightly where she stood but there was a stubborn fire in her eyes now.

"Okay" she said in a hoarse voice "Okay I'll eat"

The King nodded approvingly and made to hand her the bowl but she shook her head.

"I'll eat when you tell me what happened. Exactly what happened. And don't you dare lie to me."

Ezekiel appraised the girl before him, who's icy blue eyes were still red and raw from the tears they had cried.

And he gave in.

"Sit down" he said "But what I tell you does not go past this room."

* * *

Laney didn't remember making the decision to head to Shiva's cage room.

She just found herself there.

And she wasn't alone.

As she pushed the door open and stumbled through, the man from outside - Dean? Darren? Daryl, that was it Daryl - was sat in there.

"Shit. Shit 'm sorry" Laney mumbled before staggering forwards and collapsing into a seated position as her legs gave way.

Daryl just looked at her, the part of his face visible from behind his hair, fell into a slight frown that was one part concern, two parts discomfort.

Laney looked away, letting her head fall back against the wall as she watched Shiva pace around her cage through ever so slightly hazy vision.

"You okay?"

The question from the virtual stranger surprised her.

"What?"

"Yer… yer cryin'"

And Laney was surprised to realise she was.

As she wiped the silent tears from her eyes she realised two things.

She wasn't crying because she was sad. No, sadness was still there but the tears were coming from rage, rage at what she had learnt from the King.

The second thing took a little longer to click in her head but in her state of new found knowledge, a lot of things began to make sense.

"The Saviours" she said in a slightly tremulous voice and Daryl's whole body went rigid "You've met them before haven't you? That's why you and that-that Rick guy came here."

Daryl didn't speak, still visibly tense in his whole body.

Usually Laney wouldn't say boo to a bloody goose but she was fuelled in that moment by rage, confusion and gut wrenching grief. She ran her hands through her hair, practically yanking some of it out before saying more words in one go than anyone even Benjamin had ever heard her say

"Please! I just want someone to tell me the goddamn truth! The King told me but I know he was holding stuff back!" she took a breath and slumped back against the wall "They killed him. Benjamin. You didn't know him I know but I did. He was good. And he deserved to live. And I loved him." another deep sigh

"Huh, I'm saying that like it should mean something to you."

And all the tension just flooded out of her body and she went almost limp. Her head flopped forwards like she couldn't carry it's weight anymore and her hair hung in front of her face. This meant that she couldn't see Daryl watching her.

"Abraham."

She didn't move when he spoke the unknown name, like she was afraid that if she did he would stop talking.

"He was first. Then..." a pause in which Laney could practically feel the guilt radiating from Daryl "then Glenn. Both of 'em were good men. Glenn was gonna be a dad. Saviours killed 'em. Negan killed 'em."

"Who's Negan?" she couldn't stop herself from asking the question, but she still wouldn't look up.

"Bastard in charge. He's got 'em all thinkin' he's god. You step outta line he'll burn half your face off. He'll bash someone's head in just to make a point. Guy's evil."

"Why would the king make a deal with a guy like that?"

"Prob'ly didn' have no choice. Saviours take what they want. Kill ya if you say no."

It was a long time before either of them spoke again.

The silence was full of unspoken truths and Laney new that Daryl was holding back something, but what it was she had no idea.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"I want them dead."

Daryl turned to face her again to find that now she was looking him dead in the eye.

"Yeah" he said darkly

"Me too."

* * *

 **Ta da.**

 **I know it's short but that's just how this one turned out.**

 **Common enemies make strange alliances right?**

 **And for anyone who's confused at the sudden change in laney's character, basically she is running off of anger and grief fuelled adrenaline. And that's gonna run out at some point.**

 **Let me know what you think, I love to hear from you guys.**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	4. It's okay, you're okay

"Hell no"

"I wasn't asking."

The confidence in Laney's words died at the look Daryl gave her. Her shoulders sagged and she said in her normal, quiet voice

"I can't stay here. I just can't. You don't have to watch my back or anything. Just-just let me come with you to Hilltop. Please?"

Daryl didn't say anything for a moment just continued to do up the straps on his pack. Finally he looked up and said gruffly

"Leavin' in ten. You ain't ready, ya don't come."

* * *

Daryl had been pleasantly surprised that not only was the Laney girl ready in time but she hadn't said a word since they left.

That was good.

He was not in the mood for listening to mindless bullshit chatter.

But something told him that Laney was not the chattering bullshit type.

They had been walking for nearly five hours and she had not asked for a rest or even a pause once.

But as five hours turned into six and then seven, he could hear she was starting to struggle. Still she didn't ask him to stop or even slow down.

Finally he stopped turned to her and said

"Gonna stop here for a bit."

"I can keep going" she protested but Daryl shook his head.

"Bad idea to travel at night. Here's good."

* * *

Something was off.

The more the sun set and the darker it got, the more tense Daryl saw Laney getting.

True he was always alert when outside any of the communities but the word hypervigilant didn't even seem to cover what Laney was behaving like.

Any noise, any breath of wind, even any movement from him had her jumping, hand twitching towards the knife at her belt.

Truth was Laney was terrified.

She hadn't been outside the walls of the Kingdom for almost a year and the last time she'd been out here was the day Jesus saved her from-

Nope, now was not the time to think about that, it wouldn't help the paranoia that even the wind was the sound of walkers coming to get them.

"Sleep" Daryl's gruff voice made her flinch once again and she looked over at him across the small fire he had made.

"Sleep" he repeated "Wake ya when it's your turn to look out."

But of course she didn't sleep.

She couldn't.

Being outside again just... she couldn't.

After what felt like ten hours but was actually more like two she sat up again with a sigh, giving up on the prospect of sleep.

Daryl glanced at her then went back to sharpening his knife, the sound of scrapping metal strangely soothing to Laney.

Not soothing enough though as she still twitched and jumped at every little sound, to the point where Daryl finally mentioned it.

"Ain't gonna let nothin' happen to ya." he muttered tersely.

Laney didn't say anything in response.

The sullen promise was not meant to start a conversation or any sort of dialogue between the two of them.

It was meant to set her at ease.

And strangely enough that simple sentence, that promise, from a man who was a virtual stranger, did just that.

At least, it set her at ease enough that she finally managed to fall asleep.

At least for a little while.

And Daryl was good enough not to pass comment or even look at her any different when a nightmare woke her up.

* * *

"Laney?"

"Paul!"

She had spotted the man as soon as the guards had let her and Daryl through the gates at Hilltop. It didn't look anything like she had imagined from what Jesus had told her about the place. It was a hell of a lot bigger for one.

As she trudged up the path and through the gates behind Daryl, she had glanced up from where she had been simply staring at her feet as they walked. There was Jesus, walking down from near the big house with a curious expression on his face, clearly wondering who was coming through the gate. The expression on his face changed once he saw her behind Daryl, from curiosity to happiness to confusion and concern mixed into one.

"Laney?" he said walking forwards, slowly picking up speed as he went towards her.

"Paul!" she cried out in a voice of broken relief and pain and then she was running towards him, and him towards her. They closed the distance in a matter of seconds and then Paul was greeted by another surprise when Laney was the one who initiated the hug, all but throwing herself at him. In all the time he had known her, Laney had never initiated contact between them, and he had had to be extremely careful not to spook her with any touch she wasn't prepared for.

But here and now Laney threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his neck as he returned her hug.

"What're you doing here?" He asked pulling back so that he could look down into her face. It was then he realised that there were silent tears sliding down Laney's face.

"Okay. Okay, let's go somewhere quiet yeah?" he said and she nodded silently.

He led her away from the small crowd of onlookers who had gathered to see who had arrived at Hilltop. They walked in silence to his trailer, one of Paul's arms gently around her shoulders, and one hand gently gripping her upper arm to steer her in the right direction.

They entered his trailer and he deposited her softly into a chair before crouching in front of her.

"Talk to me kiddo"

Laney took several shuddering breaths.

Her lip trembled.

"He's gone" she whispered in a broken voice.

And then she broke down.

* * *

"Daryl!"

Daryl looked up from where he was sharpening his knife, sat on a bench between two of the trailer homes. Jesus was walking towards him, clearly intent on having a conversation with him.

"What?" he grunted, going back to his knife, not looking at the younger man.

"I just wanted to thank you" Jesus said earnestly "For getting her here. She hasn't been outside the Kingdom walls since I found her and took her there and that was almost more than a year ago. I don't think she would have made it on her own. So thank you."

"Nah. Kid's tough." Daryl muttered and Jesus gave a tired chuckle, settling on the bench next to him and looking up at the night sky.

"That she is. She's sleeping now, something I get the impression she has not done in a while."

The two men sat in silence for a while before Daryl surprised Jesus (and himself) by asking

"Girl's jumpy as hell. The hell happened to 'er?"

Jesus seemed to think for a minute before saying carefully.

"She can deal with the dead as well as anyone. But not all the living are as good as you are Daryl."

" t'snot an answer" Daryl said and Jesus sighed, running a hand through his long hair.

"Guess it's not. But I don't think it's my place to say more. You want details, you should ask her. But give her some time. I don't think she's ready yet." He said and Daryl grunted in acknowledgement.

* * *

As Jesus approached the door to his trailer, he could hear muffled noises coming from inside.

Cries.

Quickly he pushed open the door and headed straight for his bed where he had left Laney sleeping soundly.

Now she was tossing and turning, crying in her sleep as she did so, whimpering like she was afraid.

"Laney" he said softly "Laney wake up sweetheart. It's just a dream. Wake up." and he laid a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently.

The next thing he knew, Jesus was flat on his back on the floor, Laney on top of him, a knee either side of his torso and a knife at his throat.

"Laney, Laney!" though he raised his voice, he still didn't shout at her "Laney, kid it's me! It's Je- Paul! It's Paul." he finished softly, slowly raising his hand to the one of hers that held the blade at his neck. As he spoke the almost frightening look in her eye slowly started to fade and she blinked down at him, like she was only just seeing him now.

As the haze cleared Jesus gently moved her knife hand away from his neck saying as he did so

"It's okay. Not gonna hurt you. It was just a dream, it was just a dream. It's okay."

Fully awake and aware of what she had just done now, Laney all but fell off of him and pushed herself back into the corner away from him mumbling over and over in a horrified voice

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Paul, I'm sorry!"

"It's okay" he kept assuring her carefully moving across the floor until he was sat beside Laney, who had her knees pulled up to her chest and her head in her hands. "It's okay."

Slowly, carefully he put an arm around her back and took it as a good sign that for once she didn't flinch at the contact. After a long moment, she slowly leaned into him until her head was resting on his shoulder.

And that was how they spent the rest of the night.

Laney with her head on Paul's shoulder.

Paul with his arm around her.

Telling her over and over

"It's okay. You're okay."

Even though they both knew she wasn't.

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **I love writing about Jesus lol, I really wanted to try and build the relationship and friendship between Jesus and Laney this chapter so sorry there wasn't much action.**

 **Let me know what you think, love to hear from you guys. Thoughts, likes, suggestions let me have em lol.**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


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